Author: mopress

Looking to write a preface to the press release from MALDEF posted below, I went looking through my vintage copy of the Gringo Manual by Jose Angel Gutierrez. It doesn’t cover redistricting, but in the final trick of the book, the author wisely foresees the needed flexibility:

PILON CATEGORY

Trick Number 141: THERE’S MORE TO COME

Finally, the tricks discussed in these pages don’t cover all the techniques gringos use against us now. You could never cover them all. But the next book in the series will tell about more gringo tricks and also tell about some tricks we Chicanos can use to extend our power. Watch for the next book, THE CHICANO MANUAL on how to handle Gringos.

And there is more to come from Gutierrez, too. A review of his author page at Amazon shows that the Gringo Manual and the Chicano Manual are still in print along with his autobiographical Making of a Chicano Militant and his translation of the Reies Lopez Tijerina autobiography, They Called Me King Tiger. Forthcoming this summer is an update of the Gutierrez autobiography, Making of a Civil Rights Leader. And a Fall release is being planned for his biography of fellow Cristal prodigy Severita Lara.

As Texas politics continues to unroll endless spools of stupidity and backlash, we recommend a summer season of books. Suggesting another special session under present circumstances is like begging to see one more trick in the book. And listening any more to the Governor is like drawing a bath for your brain in a toxic tank. Enough we say, time to rinse and spin.

This remarkable story from the Rio Grande Guardian reminds us that lies are good for corruption, and the Texas-Mexico border is a longstanding lie. The more the state “hardens” that lie, the more corrupt it will get. The criminalization will in turn feed the budget for militarization, which will feed the appetite for contracts, and nobody loses, except Americans who prefer freedom–gm

LAREDO – Three National Guard troops assigned to the Laredo Border Sector under President Bush’s Operation Jump Start have been arrested on suspicion of smuggling undocumented immigrants into the country.

Get the full story at the Rio Grande Guardian (subscription still required).

By Nick Braune
Mid-Valley Town Crier
by permission

On Monday morning I attended a press conference called by the South Texas Civil Rights Project in front of the Edinburg, Texas Border Patrol office. (It’s a military-like fortress, with ugly fencing and heavy gates.)

The event, timed to mark the beginning of the Rio Grande Valley’s infamous “hurricane season,” was organized to demand that the Border Patrol make public their policy about hurricane evacuations: Specifically, in the event of a hurricane evacuation, will the Border Patrol be checking evacuees’ IDs, trying to figure out who is in the country legally and who is not?

If Homeland Security (DHS) does not tell the public whether it will check IDs, then many undocumented immigrants and their family members can be expected to remain in the Valley in the event of a hurricane, risking being killed by the flooding to avoid deportation or imprisonment.

Chanting “What do we want? Answers!” those organizing the press conference demanded to know which DHS values more: capturing undocumented immigrants or protecting human life? Unfortunately, the answer is pretty clearly the former. Last summer, the Border Patrol refused lawyers’ requests that it make its hurricane evacuation policy public.

In an area of the country where there have been many terrifying Border Patrol and ICE operations on immigrant neighborhoods and where the border is highly militarized, a near police state, a hurricane would be the kind of disaster the DHS could exploit to round up even more immigrants and create more fear. (If you’re interested in the connection between disasters and police states, Naomi Klein’s book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism is a fun read. And it has interesting comments on Katrina.)

The press conference was sponsored by the South Texas Civil Rights Project, LUPE (La Uni*n del Pueblo Entero/Uni*n of the Entire People, the community activist arm of the United Farm Workers Uni*n), a pro bono immigration lawyers’ group (Texas RioGrande Legal Aid), and Brownsville-based organization CASA (Coalition of Amigos in Solidarity and Action). Other groups nationally have joined in signing a letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, demanding that the Border Patrol release its hurricane evacuation policy to the public.

* * *

This is not the first time that the Valley’s vulnerability to hurricanes has been a major topic of concern among social justice activists here. A number of hurricane-related controversies have arisen over the last couple of years.

Last summer, in the rush to complete the construction of the U.S./Mexico border wall in the Valley before the new presidential administration could take office, some levies along the border were severely weakened — at the height of hurricane season, no less — to allow the wall to be more swiftly built. During that time, the Valley was left especially vulnerable to a potential hurricane disaster of catastrophic proportions.

The construction of the border wall also raised concerns, which DHS has ignored, that in the event of a hurricane, the rising water, blocked on one side by the wall, would be pushed back into Mexico, spelling disaster for some Mexican border towns. (Along much of the border, the wall is not just a “fence,” but is composed of high concrete or metal panels, appearing much like the wall in Palestine.) A recent flood in Mexico has already caused controversy, as the wall “protecting” the U.S. clearly exacerbated the flooding damage in Mexico.

* * *

There was another protest event last week that I would have attended — I was tied up working — a vigil in front of Channel 48. The vigilers were hoping for press coverage on this channel — denouncing Gov. Rick Perry for executing his 200th person in the state since he has been in office. Perry even beat George Bush by about 50 executions.

No state rivals Texas in executions; Texas has executed someone about every two weeks this year, but several other states with huge cities (New York, California, Illinois) have not executed anyone this year or last year. California is bigger than Texas in population and has a fair share of serious crimes, but it has only executed 13 people since the death penalty was restored in 1976, while Texas has executed 439. (Want to hear the score again? New York 0; California 13; Texas 439. As my students say, Go figure.

Quick fact: in 2008, 92% of all executions were in southern states with a slave-owning tradition.

Another fact: the Supreme Court in 2005 outlawed something condemned by international law: executing people for crimes committed at 17 or younger. But before it was outlawed, the last five Americans who were executed for offenses committed while they were still children, were executed under Perry, and four of those five were black.

Article XXIII: VIOLATION OF THE POSSE COMITATUS ACT

In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution “to take care that the laws be faithfully executed”, has both personally and acting through his agents and subordinates, repeatedly and illegally established programs to appropriate the power of the military for use in law enforcement. Specifically,

he has contravened U.S.C. Title 18. Section 1385, originally enacted in 1878, subsequently amended as “Use of Army and Air Force as Posse Comitatus” and commonly known as the Posse Comitatus Act.

The Act states: “Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”

The Posse Comitatus Act is designed to prevent the military from becoming a national police force.

The Declaration of Independence states as a specific grievance against the British that the King had “kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures,” had “affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the civil power,” and had “quarter[ed] large bodies of armed troops among us . . . protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States”

Despite the Posse Comitatus Act’s intent, and in contravention of the law, President Bush

a) has used military forces for law enforcement purposes on U.S. border patrol;

b) has established a program to use military personnel for surveillance and information on criminal activities;

c) is using military espionage equipment to collect intelligence information for law enforcement use on
civilians within the United States; and

d) employs active duty military personnel in surveillance agencies ,including the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA).

In June 2006, President Bush ordered National Guard troops deployed to the border shared by Mexico
with Arizona, Texas, and California. This deployment, which by 2007 reached a maximum of 6,000
troops, had orders to “conduct surveillance and operate detection equipment, work with border entry
identification teams, analyze information, assist with communications and give administrative support
to the Border Patrol” and concerned “…providing intelligence….inspecting cargo, and conducting
surveillance.”

The Air Force’s “Eagle Eyes” program encourages Air Force military staff to gather evidence on
American citizens. Eagle Eyes instructs Air Force personnel to engage in surveillance and then advises
them to “alert local authorities,” asking military staff to surveil and gather evidence on public citizens.

This contravenes DoD Directive 5525.5 “SUBJECT: DoD Cooperation with Civilian Law
Enforcement” which limits such activities.
President Bush has implemented a program to use imagery from military satellites for domestic law
enforcement through the National Applications Office.

President Bush has assigned numerous active duty military personnel to civilian institutions such as the
CIA and the Department of Homeland Security, both of which have responsibilities for law
enforcement and intelligence.

In addition, on May 9, 2007, President Bush released “National Security Presidential Directive/NSPD
51,” which effectively gives the president unchecked power to control the entire government and to
define that government in time of an emergency, as well as the power to determine whether there is an
emergency. The document also contains “classified Continuity Annexes.” In July 2007 and again in
August 2007 Rep. Peter DeFazio, a senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee,
sought access to the classified annexes. DeFazio and other leaders of the Homeland Security
Committee, including Chairman Bennie Thompson, have been denied a review of the Continuity of
Government classified annexes.

In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary to his
trust as President, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of the cause of law and
justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States. Wherefore, President George W.
Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.